Vice Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar NM, assumed duties of the Director General Project Seabird, with a charter to oversee largest defence infrastructure project currently progressing at the Karwar Naval Base, from Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, on 28 August 2024. The change of guard took place at the Headquarters, Project Seabird, New Delhi. VAdm Rajesh Dhankhar was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 01 July 1990 and is a specialist in Navigation & Direction.
The Flag Officer is an alumnus of the prestigious Naval Academy, Defence Services Staff College, and has undergone the Higher Command Course in Japan. During his illustrious career spanning 34 years, the Flag Officer has tenanted specialist appointments onboard warships Pondicherry, Godavari, Kora and Mysore. The officer has also done instructional tenures in the erstwhile Project 15 Training Team, Navigation & Direction School and at the MIDS Wing Officer’s Cadet School, Singapore.
His command appointments include Executive Officer onboard INS Delhi, and as Commanding Officer onboard INS Gharial, Mumbai and Vikramaditya. His notable staff appointments include those as Joint Director and Director at Directorate of Naval Plans, Principal Director/ Commodore (Pers) at the Directorate of Personnel. In Flag rank, he has tenanted duties of Chief Staff Officer (Training), Flag Officer Sea Training, Commandant Naval War College and the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. The Flag officer has also tenanted additional duties of the Chairman, Carrier Acceptance Trials Team to oversee the acceptance trials of INS Vikrant.
The Flag Officer is a recipient of the Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry) in 2015 for Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) of Indian nationals from Aden and Al-Hodeida, Yemen.
During his tenure as Fleet Commander, over the past ten months, the Eastern Fleet maintained high level of combat readiness and operational tempo undertaking multiple Mission Based and operational deployments, and numerous bilateral and multilateral engagements including MILAN 24 with friendly foreign navies.
